Receive the latest local updates in your inbox

The owner of the store said the same thief keeps breaking into her store. (Published Thursday, Mar 7, 2013)

Surveillance video shows a man breaking down a sheet rock wall at a Dallas cell phone store to rob the cash register.

The store's owner told NBC 5 they believe the same man has broken through the same wall at the store four other times since the summer. He's stolen $20,000 worth of cash and merchandise.

The manager of the Boost Mobile store said the thief is getting quicker each time, and nothing she's doing seems to help.

"We've installed more security systems since it started, more cameras, motion detectors. And still it has not worked," said store manager Martha Alvarez.

Investigators said the burglar made a hole in a neighboring vacant business and then began breaking down the Boost Mobile wall.

Baja Auto Insurance, Faulkner's Cleaners, and a Boost Mobile location are all part of the business complex on Ross Avenue.

Investigators initially believed the thief was stuck inside the building after he crawled through the plywood of the vacant store to get into the strip mall. Officers brought in police dogs and used ladders to search the walls, but the thief was long gone. Dallas police even launched a helicopter to try and spot the burglar from above.

Surveillance video shows that the crook was in and out of the store in under two minutes.

"Very frustrating, definitely. There's damage to the building, loss of money, and lots of merchandise taken as you can see," Alvarez said. "This is the fifth time he's broken into the store."

Alvarez showed NBC 5 surveillance video from a burglary on August 23. She says it shows the same suspect breaking down the wall and stealing money from the cash register. He also stuffed several phones into a bag.

"He's been doing this for a while," Alvarez said.

This morning, the motion detectors alerted police to the break-in, but it couldn't help officers track down the suspect.